Losses

Here thirteen failures over the course of a career are described. (Thirteen, associated with bad luck, was chosen as a counterpoint to the wins, seven, associated with good luck.) The thirteen begin with an academic "crash and burn" as a young student and culminate with a two million (twenty million?) dollar strategic blunder in China. They end with a partial description of a minor error made with a CEO October 2009 followed, sadly, by another error, which had repercussions in 2011 and beyond. However the CEO is adamant that the outcome was not the coach’s fault, and does not want the full story on the website.

For a summary case, a minor project in which just about every error in the book was made, go to number (8) Project Management, Italy. For a horrendous case of mismanagement, a gross, repeated series of errors exhibiting extraordinarily bad judgment and leading to irreparable harm, see (10) Property Management, U.S. For a sad coaching error, see (13) Coaching India/Norway.

Besides various business blunders, four times in my life there have been personal seven figure losses, which are not recounted here. For huge, gargantuan failures, where tens of thousands of jobs were destroyed and hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars were pulverized, A. Seven Key Factors to Fantastic Failures and Billion Dollar Blunders at V. Q-Strategy for Turnarounds, Services.

Many people admit to mistakes, but claim not to repeat them, rapidly learning from them. However my heritage is Scots. I am stubborn, indeed, relentless. I repeat the same error, over and over again. Eventually, bloody and bowed, I come to realize that one procedure or another is not an optimal "career enhancement" or "profit improvement" strategy. The painful lessons from these repeated errors have proved useful in teaching (above all, executive MBA courses) and coaching.

Profit from these mistakes, large and small, the large at Billion Dollar Blunders (linked above) and the small as presented here. Consider them carefully and step elegantly around them. You, a leader, will not be so foolish as to make similar ones.

They are described in the chapters listed below, some mistakes old, some new, some with rebounds, others with repeats, and all with hints as to what one can learn from them.